Pistol-Hot Ensemble Cast Provides Film with Rogue's Gallery of Memorably Offbeat Characters
Kim Basinger brings her icy blond beauty and an air of wounded sparrow fragility to the role of Lynn Bracken, an upscale call girl made up to resemble 1940s film siren Veronica Lake. Seductive and enigmatic, Basinger's character eerily evokes the spirit of slinky femme fatales of film legend. For noir aficionados, the performer's delicately etched portrayal is - to borrow a line from The Maltese Falcon - "the stuff that dreams are made of." (Basinger earned a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for this role.)
Russell Crowe turns in a riveting performance as Bud White, a hard-boiled LAPD detective with a soft spot for vulnerable women. Naturally, Crowe's character is drawn to Basinger's fragile beauty like a moth to a flame.
Guy Pearce plays Edmund Exley, a rookie officer who comes into conflict with the volatile White during the initial stages of a murder investigation. Those youthful good looks can be deceptive. Pearce's depiction of the ambitious Exley reveals a steely intelligence operating behind the boyish facade.
Kevin Spacey is a model of "retro cool" in the role of "Hollywood Jack" Vincennes, a headline-hungry cop working a celebrity scam with scandal mag editor Sid Hudgens (played with weaselly panache by Danny DeVito). Yes, Jack is a suave, self-absorbed jerk. And yet the role provides Spacey with a chance to put a novel spin on his scuzzball character. Turns out Jack has a streak of conscience.
Obviously no one is exactly who they appear to be in the shifting moral landscape of this film.
Puzzled Viewers Are Advised to Keep Remote Control Handy
Director Curtis Hanson and screenwriter Brian Helgeland pruned plotlines and characters and condensed the time frame of James Ellroy's densely textured novel. The pair shared an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for their efforts. Slippery and elusive, L.A.'s plot is spring loaded with surprises.
If you are having problems figuring out what is going on, keep one finger poised on the replay button to pick up any pieces of the intricately constructed jigsaw puzzle plot that you may have missed along the way.
Film Proves That Some Things Never Go Out of Style
Director Hanson captures the seedy glamor of 1950s Hollywood to uncanny perfection, and yet the film feels strangely contemporary as well. The fine line between public image and private truth. Moral corruption in high places. The destructive effects of tabloid journalism. All of these issues are explored in the film. All of them are relevant today.
Richard Goertz - Richard Goertz has a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in English and History acquired light years ago (when his hair was longer) and have ...
